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Candidates focus in on Virginia

Sept. 27 - Republican Mitt Romney calls the U.S.'s 1.3 percent growth 'unacceptable' as he urged voters in the battleground state of Virginia to support him. Deborah Gembara reports.

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With just over a month to go before election day, the candidates are zeroing in on the battleground states --- On Thursday ---Virginia.
SOUNDBITE: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney saying:
"He's put us on a road to Europe, Europe doesn't work in Europe, all right? I want to get us back to being America."
Campaigning in northern Virginia, the most liberal part of the historically conservative state, Romney pointed to the U.S.'s growth rate.
SOUNDBITE: Mitt Romney saying:
"1.3 percent versus Russia at 4 percent. china at 7 to 8 percent, we're at 1.3 percent. This is unacceptable, it is not working. I know what it takes to get us working."
It was a point Obama has been forced to acknowledge.
SOUNDBITE: U.S. President Barack Obama saying:
"It's going to take a few more years to solve challenges that have been building up over decades."
At a rally in the military hub of Virginia Beach Obama discussed patriotism, in particular, what he called "economic patriotism."
SOUNDBITE: U.S. President Barack Obama saying:
"When Governor Romney turned his back on the American auto industry, I said, I'm going to bet on American workers. I'm going to bet on American ingenuity. We came together and we reinvented a dying auto industry that is now back on top of the world."
Virginia may be a crucial state for Romney -- who, according the latest Reuters Ipsos poll, trails Obama.. 49 to 42 percent.

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